SACRAMENTO / Governor ripped Dem leaders in released tapes

Tom Chorneau, Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writers

Published 4:00 am, Monday, February 5, 2007

Photo: MAX WHITTAKER

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California Assembly Speaker, Democrat Fabian Nunez (L), greets Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger before he signs an executive order establishing a Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) for transportation fuels sold in California, at the State Capitol in Sacramento, California January 18, 2007. By 2020 the standard will reduce the carbon intensity of California's passenger vehicle fuels by at least 10 percent. REUTERS/Max Whittaker (UNITED STATES) less

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, center left, laughs with state Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, left, before he signed the largest of four public works bonds headed for the November ballot in Orinda, Calif., Tuesday, May 16, 2006. The transportation bond would provide $19.9 billion for highway, rail and port projects. Perata sponsored the bill. He is surrounded by other state elected officials in front of Caldecott Tunnel on Highway 24. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
Ran on: 05-17-2006
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (at lectern) is flanked by officials outside the Caldecott Tunnel.
Ran on: 05-17-2006
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (at lectern) is flanked by officials outside the Caldecott Tunnel.
Ran on: 05-17-2006 Ran on: 05-17-2006 less

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, center left, laughs with state Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, left, before he signed the largest of four public works bonds headed for the November ballot in Orinda, Calif., Tuesday, ... more

Photo: PAUL SAKUMA

SACRAMENTO / Governor ripped Dem leaders in released tapes

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2007-02-05 04:00:00 PDT Sacramento -- More private conversations of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger released Sunday reveal the Republican governor's disdain for the Legislature's two Democratic leaders with whom he's publicly professed a close relationship.

In one meeting held last March, Schwarzenegger called Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, a "very sick man" and "really weird" after lawmakers and the administration failed to reach a compromise last spring to place a bond measure on the June ballot.

Schwarzenegger in a speechwriting meeting that same month called Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, a "political operator" who lacks "passion" about anything other than politics.

The comments, like those made public during the fall campaign, were recorded as part of ongoing speechwriting exercises and were among those downloaded by aides to Democrat Phil Angelides.

The governor's office agreed Sunday to release all the disputed tapes after Angelides' campaign released some of them to the media.

Adam Mendolsehn, communications director for the governor, said that in a "reprehensible and shameful act, those associated with the Phil Angelides campaign have leaked private conversations of Gov. Schwarzenegger to the media again."

A spokeswoman for Perata said the comments made in the tapes will not affect cordial relations and productive legislative action accomplished by the governor and the Senate leader.

"There's nothing in those tapes that will prevent this year from being as productive as last year," said Alicia Trost.

The governor's comments about Perata were in reaction to a legislative move made by the Oakland Democrat intended to avoid a piecemeal negotiation of the infrastructure bonds package put before voters last year. Specifically, the comments followed news that Perata adjourned a Senate session hours before a key deadline, short-circuiting an Assembly bond proposal.

On the tape, one of Schwarzenegger's aides noted that Perata was not interested in pushing the bond program.

"Perata is a very sick man," the governor said.

"It's like he all of a sudden on Wednesday basically shut down his brain, and he would not go and talk to anyone anymore," the governor said. "Negotiations for him were over, and then he just put it up for a vote."

An aide asked Schwarzenegger what he thought Perata was trying to do.

"He just -- he's really weird," Schwarzenegger said. "He went out there to collect money for his campaign."

The remarks about the Democratic legislative leaders come to light as Schwarzenegger casts himself as a leader who relies on bipartisan cooperation to advance important policy initiatives.

A California Highway Patrol investigation into the downloading of the conversations concluded that no crime was committed when aides for Angelides accessed an embarrassing tape of Schwarzenegger from the governor's Web site and leaked it to the press.

Investigators found that the governor's office lacked basic computer security barriers to prevent the public from browsing areas meant to be private.

The five-month review, which was made public on Friday, vindicated the Angelides camp, which had been accused by Schwarzenegger's campaign of possible criminal violations.

Campaign aides to Angelides scoured the governor's Web site hundreds of times looking at Schwarzenegger's speeches and other postings before finding a file of private conversations that appeared to have been mistakenly included with a speech the governor had given about Hurricane Katrina.

On the tape, Schwarzenegger referred to Latinos and African Americans -- specifically Republican Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, who is of Puerto Rican descent -- as having "hot" blood or a passionate temperament.

Although Schwarzenegger quickly apologized for his comments, he was criticized by Angelides and others for "insulting" and "degrading" voters.

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